A not so merry Kookaburra

Ok, for the non-Aussies reading this, we have a little children’s song that goes:

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,

Merry Merry King of the bush is he,

Laugh Kookaburra, Laugh Kookaburra,

Gay your life must be.

Lovely, isn't it! Merry, Gay, Laughing… that must be one happy bird, right?

Well we have a mate, appropriately named “Kookie”.

And I’m afraid Kookie is not so happy. In fact, we are quite convinced Kookie is completely deranged. Kookie sits on our window ledge most of the day, and looks so cute as he fluffs up his feathers sings his Kookaburra song. But then, when you least expect it, Kookie will launch himself into full speed Kamikaze mode, and BANG, slam into the window. Every 10 or so minutes throughout the day. Now obviously Kookie is seeing a rival in his reflection in the window. So we’ve tried move him off the window sill with all sorts of implements (not hands, have you seen the size of a Kookaburra’s beak close up!). But Kookie stands his ground, and gives us a look as though we were the deranged ones. We’ve tried covering the window, but he then moves to the next… and we really would prefer not to have to block our lovely river views by covering all our windows with newspaper to save Kookie’s beak. We are yet to try some further methods, so will keep you posted. If you’ve got any ideas, please let us know!